Epidemiological update: anthrax cases among people who inject drugs

Epidemiological update-7 Mar 2013

On 8 March, the Health Protection Agency in the United Kingdom reported an additional fatal case of anthrax in Suffolk, England. It concerns a person who injected heroin. This brings the number of anthrax cases among injecting drug users in the EU to 14, since June 2012.

On 25 and 26 of July, two additional cases of soft-tissue anthrax among injecting drug users have been reported from the United Kingdom and Denmark. The genetic typing of the strains related to these cases is ongoing.